Leaders Eat Last

Leaders Eat Last Plot Summary

Introduction

Have you ever noticed how some teams seem to function like a well-oiled machine, with members instinctively looking out for one another, while others crumble at the first sign of pressure? I recently observed two teams facing the same crisis—one pulled together, working late into the night without complaint, while the other dissolved into finger-pointing and self-preservation. The difference wasn't skill or resources; it was leadership and the environment those leaders had created. In today's corporate landscape, we're facing a troubling paradox. Despite unprecedented technological advancement and prosperity, employee engagement and workplace satisfaction are at alarming lows. This disconnect stems from how our organizations are structured and led. Through compelling research and real-world examples, we discover that great organizations don't just happen—they're deliberately cultivated by leaders who understand that their primary responsibility isn't maximizing profit but protecting their people. When leaders create what we'll explore as a "Circle of Safety," they tap into our biological programming for trust and cooperation, unleashing extraordinary human potential and organizational performance that sustains through both good times and bad.

Chapter 1: The Circle of Safety: How Great Leaders Create Trust

Captain Mike Drowley, call sign "Johnny Bravo," was flying his A-10 aircraft over Afghanistan on a dark night in August 2002. Below him, through thick cloud cover, a team of twenty-two Special Operations Forces was escorting a high-value target through a deep valley in mountainous terrain. Though he couldn't see them, Johnny Bravo sensed their anxiety through brief radio communications. Following his instinct, Johnny Bravo made a decision that went beyond standard protocol. He executed a dangerous "weather letdown," dropping his aircraft below the clouds into the valley despite poor visibility and treacherous terrain. What he saw was shocking—enemy fire coming from both sides of the valley, with tracer rounds lighting up the area as bullets and rockets targeted the troops below. With limited time before he would hit the valley walls, Johnny Bravo locked his guns onto enemy positions and fired. "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand..." he counted, pulling up sharply before impact with the mountain. After a moment of radio silence that felt eternal, he heard: "Good hits! Keep it coming!" Johnny Bravo continued making passes until he ran out of ammunition, then brought in his wingman. Together, they continued the assault until all twenty-two men on the ground could escape safely. When asked later what gave him the courage to fly into such danger, Johnny Bravo's answer was surprising. It wasn't his training, education, or equipment—though all were valuable. It was empathy. "Because they would have done it for me," he explained simply. This story illustrates the fundamental principle behind strong organizations: when people feel safe among their own, they naturally work together against external threats. Great leaders like Johnny Bravo don't calculate risk and reward in terms of personal gain; they instinctively put the welfare of others first. They create what can be called a "Circle of Safety"—an environment where people trust each other implicitly and work for each other rather than just themselves. The remarkable thing is that this kind of selfless behavior isn't limited to military scenarios. In any organization where leaders prioritize the well-being of their people, similar bonds of trust and cooperation naturally form, creating resilience and performance that no amount of money or technology alone can buy.

Chapter 2: E.D.S.O.: The Chemicals That Drive Human Behavior

Bob Chapman, CEO of manufacturing company Barry-Wehmiller, was sitting in a cafeteria before his first meeting at a newly acquired company called HayssenSandiacre. As he sipped his coffee, he observed something that would transform his understanding of leadership. He watched a group of employees laughing and joking together before their shift started. But the moment they stood up to begin work, their demeanor changed dramatically—smiles disappeared, energy drained away, and camaraderie evaporated. This stark transformation deeply affected Chapman. "Why can't we enjoy ourselves at work like we do when we're not at work?" he wondered. Though he had been a successful executive who made decisions based on data and market conditions, this simple observation made him reconsider everything he thought he knew about leadership. Later, while attending a wedding, Chapman had another epiphany. Watching a father give away his daughter, he realized: "Every single employee is someone's son or someone's daughter." Parents work to give their children good lives and education, then hand them over to companies with the hope that those companies' leaders will exercise the same care. "It is we, the companies, who are now responsible for these precious lives," Chapman concluded. Under Chapman's leadership, Barry-Wehmiller transformed. He removed time clocks, took down locked cages that held spare parts, and eliminated barriers between factory workers and office staff. The culture shifted to one where people felt valued and trusted. When an employee faced a personal crisis—his diabetic wife was going to lose her leg—his colleagues spontaneously created a plan to transfer their own paid vacation days to him, despite this being against official company policy. What Chapman intuitively understood relates to the science of four powerful chemicals that drive human behavior: Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin, and Oxytocin (E.D.S.O.). These chemicals evolved to help us survive and thrive as a species. Endorphins mask physical pain to help us endure. Dopamine rewards achievement and progress. Serotonin reinforces social bonds and pride in our relationships. Oxytocin creates feelings of trust, love, and deep connection. The first two chemicals (endorphins and dopamine) are largely "selfish"—they reward individual achievement. The second two (serotonin and oxytocin) are "selfless"—they strengthen social bonds. When organizations create environments where all four chemicals can flow in balanced ways, people naturally work together, trust each other, and perform at their best. This is the biological foundation of the Circle of Safety that great leaders like Chapman instinctively build.

Chapter 3: The Courage to Do the Right Thing

Flight KH209 was cruising at 36,000 feet when smoke began pouring into the cockpit. The pilot immediately radioed air traffic control: "I need to descend immediately. I can't maintain altitude." But there was a serious problem—another flight was 2,000 feet directly below them, and strict FAA regulations prohibited aircraft from passing closer than 1,000 feet vertically or five miles horizontally. The experienced air traffic controller faced a critical decision. Following the rulebook would keep the planes properly separated but might endanger the 126 souls aboard the troubled aircraft. Breaking protocol carried its own risks, including triggering collision alarms on multiple planes. In that moment, the controller made a judgment call that transcended the rules. "Turn fifteen degrees right and descend," he instructed the distressed plane. Then he contacted the aircraft below: "There is an airplane flying above you. He has declared an emergency. He is going to descend through your altitude at approximately two miles off your right front. He needs to descend immediately." The controller repeated similar messages to other nearby aircraft as the troubled plane made its emergency descent. All 126 people aboard flight KH209 survived because one air traffic controller had the courage to break the rules when human lives were at stake. This wasn't recklessness—it was a calculated decision made by someone with the experience and confidence to know when standard protocols should be set aside. This scenario illustrates a crucial truth about trust in organizations: we don't just trust people to follow rules—we trust them to know when to break them. Rules exist for normal operations, but exceptional circumstances require judgment. In strong organizations, leaders invest time in training their people and building their confidence so they can make these difficult calls when necessary. The responsibility of leaders is to teach their people the rules, train them to gain competency, and build their confidence. At that point, leadership must step back and trust that their people know what they're doing and will do what needs to be done. When people feel that they have the control to do what's right, even if it sometimes means breaking the rules, they're more likely to act with courage and good judgment. This principle extends beyond high-stakes scenarios like air traffic control. In any workplace, when employees feel trusted to use their judgment rather than blindly following procedures, they become more engaged, responsible, and effective. True trust can only exist among people who know they are actively and consciously concerned about each other's welfare. As the air traffic controller demonstrated, courage comes from above. Our confidence to do what's right is determined by how trusted we feel by our leaders.

Chapter 4: Leadership Is Not About Rank But Responsibility

David Marquet was a career submarine officer in the U.S. Navy who had meticulously prepared to take command of the USS Olympia. After studying the submarine's systems and crew for a year, he was unexpectedly reassigned to captain the USS Santa Fe instead—a newer submarine with different equipment and, more troublingly, a crew that ranked last in nearly every readiness measurement. On his first day of command, Captain Marquet defaulted to what he knew best—being in control and issuing orders. Everything seemed to work smoothly at first. The crew responded with "aye-aye" to his commands, and Marquet felt confident. The next day, while running a drill simulating reactor failure, Marquet ordered: "Ahead two thirds." The Officer of the Deck repeated the order, but nothing happened. When Marquet questioned the helmsman, the young sailor replied, "Sir, there is no two-thirds setting." Turning to the navigator, Marquet asked if he knew there was no two-thirds setting on this submarine. "Yes sir," the officer replied. Stunned, Marquet asked why he had issued the order anyway. "Because you told me to," came the simple response. This moment forced Marquet to confront a profound truth: his crew had been trained to follow instructions blindly, and he had been trained for another submarine. "What happens when the leader is wrong in a top-down culture? Everyone goes off a cliff," Marquet later wrote. If he continued to command and control everything, something very bad could eventually happen. Marquet realized he needed to fundamentally change his leadership approach. "Those at the top," he explained, "have all the authority and none of the information. Those at the bottom have all the information and none of the authority." This imbalance was dangerous on a nuclear submarine where lives were at stake. One of his first changes was banning the phrase "permission to" aboard the Santa Fe. Instead of saying "Request permission to submerge the ship" followed by "Permission granted," crew members would say "I intend to submerge the ship." This simple linguistic shift created psychological ownership of actions rather than mere compliance with orders. The results were remarkable. Under Marquet's leadership, the crew of the Santa Fe went from the lowest-rated to the best-rated in Navy history. The reenlistment rate jumped from three to thirty-three. Nine of the fourteen officers aboard went on to command their own ships—an unprecedented achievement. Marquet's experience teaches us that true leadership isn't about controlling others but empowering them. "The goal of a leader is to give no orders," he explains. "Leaders are to provide direction and intent and allow others to figure out what to do and how to get there." This approach doesn't diminish leadership—it enhances it. As Marquet defines it, "Power is the transfer of energy." The more energy transferred from the top of the organization to those doing the actual work, the more powerful both the organization and its leader become. This principle applies in any organization. When leaders create environments where people are trained, trusted, and empowered to act, they unlock extraordinary potential and build organizations that can adapt and thrive in any circumstance.

Chapter 5: Leading with Empathy in a World of Abstraction

Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, conducted a series of experiments in 1961 that revealed a disturbing truth about human behavior. In these experiments, volunteers were instructed to administer what they believed were increasingly painful electric shocks to another person (actually an actor) whenever that person answered questions incorrectly. Despite hearing cries of pain and pleas to stop, 65% of participants continued administering shocks all the way to the maximum level—simply because an authority figure in a lab coat told them to continue. This shocking finding has profound implications for modern organizations. When we become disconnected from the impact of our decisions on others—when people become abstractions rather than flesh-and-blood humans—our moral compass can falter. This "abstraction effect" is amplified in today's corporate world, where leaders often make decisions based on spreadsheets and metrics rather than face-to-face interactions with those affected. In 2009, the Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipped salmonella-contaminated products that ultimately killed nine people and sickened over seven hundred. When company president Stewart Parnell was confronted with positive salmonella tests, his response focused on financial impact: these tests were "costing us huge $$$$$." The physical and emotional distance between decision-makers and those harmed made it easier to prioritize profits over people's lives. Similar dynamics play out in less dramatic ways across organizations every day. Investment bankers make decisions that affect thousands of families without ever meeting them. Executives approve layoffs while looking at numbers rather than faces. Even well-intentioned leaders can lose sight of the human consequences of their actions when operating at scale. Adam Grant, a management professor at Wharton, demonstrated how powerful human connection can be in counteracting this abstraction. In a study of university fundraisers, he found that those who spent just five minutes meeting a scholarship recipient who described how the scholarship changed their life increased their fundraising results by over 400%. Simply seeing the actual impact of their work transformed their motivation and performance. To combat the dangers of abstraction, leaders must take deliberate steps to maintain human connection. Bill Gore, founder of W.L. Gore & Associates (makers of GORE-TEX), noticed that when his company grew beyond about 150 people, employees no longer knew each other. Rather than accepting this as inevitable, he established a policy that no facility would exceed 150 people—they would simply build a new facility when they reached that limit. This "Dunbar's Number" (named after anthropologist Robin Dunbar) represents the cognitive limit to the number of people with whom we can maintain stable social relationships. Other practices that help overcome abstraction include bringing employees face-to-face with customers, investing time (not just money) in relationships, and recognizing that trust takes time to develop. As one leader put it, "Money is an abstraction of tangible resources or human effort." When we give our time and energy to others, we demonstrate a deeper level of commitment than any financial transaction can convey. In a world increasingly driven by digital connections and big data, maintaining human empathy requires conscious effort. Leaders who succeed in this challenge create organizations where people feel seen, valued, and connected to a larger purpose—the foundation of sustainable success.

Chapter 6: Building a Culture Where People Come First

When Bob Chapman took over HayssenSandiacre, a manufacturing company in South Carolina, he noticed something troubling. Factory workers had to punch time clocks and wait for bells to signal breaks, while office employees enjoyed freedom to manage their own time. "I walk in the same door with engineers, accountants and other people who work in the office," one veteran employee explained. "They turn left to go to the office and I go straight into the plant and we are treated completely differently." Chapman immediately ordered the time clocks taken down and the bells silenced. He removed the locked cages that stored machine parts, making them accessible to all employees. He eliminated the pay phones that factory workers had to use (and get permission to use) and made company phones available to everyone. These simple changes sent a powerful message: every employee deserved equal trust and respect. The culture transformation was remarkable. When an employee's diabetic wife faced losing her leg, his colleagues spontaneously donated their vacation days so he could care for her—something never done before at the company. "I never thought you could enjoy a job," said one long-time employee. "When you have people who trust you, they're going to do a better job for you to earn or keep that trust." Under Chapman's leadership, HayssenSandiacre saw revenue increase from $55 million to $95 million without taking on debt or implementing consultant-driven reorganizations. The company grew because of the people who already worked there—people who now felt valued and committed. This approach stands in stark contrast to companies like Goldman Sachs, which underwent a dramatic culture shift in the 1990s. Once known for its "long-term greedy" philosophy that prioritized client relationships over quick profits, Goldman began recruiting more aggressive personalities focused on maximizing short-term gains. By 2010, the company's reputation had plummeted from "billionaire Boy Scouts" to a symbol of Wall Street excess. The contrast between these approaches was dramatically illustrated during the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. At the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, employees risked their lives to save guests—telephone operators who had escaped ran back into the hotel to call guests and help them get out, while kitchen staff formed human shields to protect guests. Nearly half of the 31 hotel employees who died that day had voluntarily put themselves in harm's way to protect others. When asked why their people acted so bravely, Taj senior management couldn't explain it. But Harvard business professor Rohit Deshpande, who researched the events, found the answer in the hotel's culture. The Taj deliberately hired for empathy over credentials, valued respect over talent, and trusted employees to improvise rather than follow rulebooks. Their people had been cultivated to "do the right thing," not just the thing that was right for themselves. The lesson is clear: culture isn't just about values written on a wall—it's about how people actually behave when tested. As the saying goes, "So goes the culture, so goes the company." When leaders create environments where people feel valued, trusted, and part of something larger than themselves, those people naturally respond with loyalty, innovation, and extraordinary effort when it matters most.

Chapter 7: Shared Struggle: Finding Purpose in Service to Others

James Sinegal, co-founder of Costco, ran his company in a way that puzzled Wall Street analysts. He refused to cut employee wages or benefits even during economic downturns, maintained the highest wages in retail (about $20 per hour compared to Walmart's $13), and provided health insurance to nearly 90% of employees. When Costco's sales declined 27% during the 2009 recession, instead of laying off workers as competitors did, Sinegal approved a $1.50-an-hour wage increase spread over three years. "This economy is bad," Sinegal told his CFO. "We should be figuring out how to give them more, not less." While analysts criticized him for being "too benevolent," Sinegal remained steadfast in his people-first approach. The results speak for themselves: Costco's employee turnover is below 10% (extraordinarily low for retail), and the company has outperformed competitors consistently, including through economic downturns. This approach stands in stark contrast to companies like General Electric under Jack Welch, who pioneered the "rank and yank" system of firing the bottom 10% of managers each year. While Welch's GE did make shareholders money during his tenure, his approach created a culture of internal competition rather than cooperation. After Welch retired in 2001, GE struggled, with his successor Jeffrey Immelt noting, "Anybody could run a business in the 1990s. A dog could have run a business." The difference between these approaches reflects a fundamental truth about human nature: we thrive when we share struggles together. When asked about their best days at work, people rarely mention times when everything went smoothly. Instead, they recall projects where everything went wrong—when the team stayed until 3 a.m. eating cold pizza to meet a deadline. It wasn't the hardship itself that made these experiences meaningful, but the camaraderie of overcoming challenges together. This explains why military personnel often speak fondly of deployments despite the danger and hardship. The oxytocin released when we face challenges together creates bonds that last a lifetime. As one veteran explained, "We probably won't say we enjoyed it; we might even say we hated it. But a surprisingly high number will say we were grateful for the experience." For organizations to harness this power of shared struggle, leaders must frame challenges in ways that unite people around a meaningful purpose. Bill Gates set Microsoft on a path to "put a PC on every desk." Steve Jobs aimed to "put a dent in the universe" by making technology adapt to humans rather than forcing humans to adapt to technology. These visions weren't just about growth or profit—they were challenges that outsized available resources and required people to come together to solve seemingly impossible problems. This is why small businesses often innovate more effectively than large corporations. When resources are limited, people naturally pull together, share ideas, and find creative solutions. Larger organizations with abundant resources can recreate these conditions by framing challenges in terms of purpose rather than just performance metrics. As Bob Chapman puts it, profit is "a fuel, not a destination." The most effective leaders understand that human beings have thrived for fifty thousand years not because we're driven to serve ourselves, but because we're inspired to serve others. When leaders give people a cause greater than themselves—a reason to come to work beyond just earning a paycheck—they tap into the deepest wellsprings of human motivation and create organizations that can accomplish extraordinary things.

Summary

The essence of true leadership is creating environments where people feel safe enough to collaborate, innovate, and give their best—not because they're forced to, but because they want to. When leaders prioritize the well-being of their people over short-term metrics, they build what Simon Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that unleashes the natural human capacity for trust, cooperation, and extraordinary achievement. To become the leader your organization needs, start by making small, consistent investments in human connection. Take time to know your people beyond their job functions. When making decisions, consider the human impact, not just the numbers. Create opportunities for shared challenges that bring people together around meaningful purposes. Remember that leadership is not about rank or authority—it's about taking responsibility for the welfare of others. As Captain Marquet demonstrated on the USS Santa Fe, the most powerful act of leadership is often giving power away. When you eat last, ensuring everyone else is taken care of before yourself, you create the conditions for sustainable success that transcends any individual leader.

About Author

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Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek is an optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. With a bold goal to help build a world in which the vast majority of people go home everyday feeling fulfilled by their work, Sinek is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. Sinek’s unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention and have earned him invitations to meet with an array of leaders and organizations, including: Microsoft, MARS, SAP, Intel, 3M, the United States Military, members of the United States Congress, multiple government agencies and entrepreneurs. Sinek has also had the honor of presenting his ideas to the Ambassadors of Bahrain and Iraq, at the United Nations and to the senior leadership of the United States Air Force. Sinek is an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation, one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world. He is also active in the arts and not-for-profit world, working with Education for Employment Foundation to help create opportunities for young men and women in the Middle East region. When not in hotels, he lives in New York, where he teaches graduate level strategic communications at Columbia University.

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